Three intrepid time travelers from the distant future take aim for the year 1776, but a 200-year miscalculation brings them instead to an age of platform shoes, mood rings, and disco dancing. This harmless parody of pop culture during the 1970s is often more lame than the decade itself was, in part because it never tries to be any less superficial than the fads it pokes fun at. Everything is included: the music (Peter Frampton, Grand Funk Railroad); the trends (bean bag chairs, self-awareness seminars); and even the personalities (teen heartthrobs David Cassady and Leif Garrett, who apparently enjoyed spoofing themselves). The plot is a good natured plagiarism of 'Back to the Future' but, except for the exploding Ford Pinto, there aren't any actual time-warp jokes; the humor, such as it is, relies entirely on the stimulus-response of simple recognition. Filmed in beautiful downtown Alameda, California, with a cast of local actors alongside the many celebrity cameos.
Review of The Spirit of '76
